The 2028 Los Angeles Summer Olympics are still more than two and a half years away, but organizers made a significant statement in the sports world’s continual journey toward equality for women by announcing that the women’s 100-meter track final, not the men’s, will open the first night of medal competition at the Games. The men’s 100 final, which traditionally goes first, will be held the next evening.
‘It’s really important that we’re able not only to talk about equality, but to actually demonstrate it in a really powerful way, and there’s no bigger platform than the first day of an Olympic Games featuring the women’s 100-meter final,” Olympic gold medalist and World Athletics president Sebastian Coe said Tuesday during an exclusive interview with USA TODAY Sports, which is first to report the news of the 2028 Olympic competition schedule. Registration for tickets will begin in January 2026 at LA28.org.
Olympic gold medalist Janet Evans, LA28 chief athlete officer, said it was ‘incredible” for the women’s 100 meters ‘to be the preeminent event at the Olympic Games in Los Angeles 2028 on the first night of competition in the historic Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.”
And U.S. Olympic gold and silver medalist Sha’Carri Richardson said the road to LA28 is ‘about to be something special.’
”Especially for the women’s sprints,” Richardson said in a text message sent by a World Athletics spokesperson. ‘The talent, energy, and competition … it’s all going to shine. Just look at Day One of the LA Games. I’m locked in on accomplishing some personal goals and doing my part to help the sport keep growing and inspiring the next generation at home in the USA and across the globe.”
The L.A. Olympics begin July 14, 2028 with the opening ceremony, followed the next day by the first medal event, women’s triathlon, taking place in the Games’ Venice Beach zone. Later that night, the women’s 100 final will be run inside the venerable Coliseum, also site of the 1932 and 1984 Summer Olympics.
To stick to that schedule, all three rounds of the women’s 100 meters will need to be run the same day, July 15, which is a first at the Olympic Games. The men will run their first round on July 15 and the semifinals and final on July 16.
Both Coe and Evans said athletes and coaches were consulted before that decision was made.
‘It was one of the things we talked about, running three 100 meters in one day,’ Evans said. ‘How would that feel as an athlete, mentally and physically? What does that mean? And we took that question very seriously as we spoke to athletes commissions of LA28 as well as athletes commissions from World Athletics. … And so I think when we presented it to the athletes that way, there was excitement. And for the few naysayers, the majority of the athletes said to me, just let me know, right? Like, let me know if this is what’s going to happen, let me know early, and I will start training to run three 100 meters in one day, because it can be done, but I just need to schedule my training.”
Swimming is usually held the first week of the Summer Games and track and field the second, but the two Olympic behemoths are swapping in 2028 for no reason other than logistics. The opening ceremony is going to take place in SoFi Stadium, which is also where the swimming competition will be held. The makeover of the venue will require a few days, necessitating pushing swimming into the Games’ second week for the first time since the 1968 Mexico City Olympics.
The L.A. Olympics will feature a record number of female athletes, with 50.5% of the total athlete quota allocated to women in the Games’ 51 sports, according to LA28. This is a continuation of the Olympic Games’ push for equal participation and billing for women athletes, which goes all the way to the top of the International Olympic Committee with its first female president, Olympic gold medalist Kirsty Coventry.